This word, the root of our modern "poetry", was first a verb, an action that transforms and continues the world.

Martin Heidegger refers to it as a 'bringing-forth', using this term in its widest sense. He explained poiesis as the blooming of the blossom, the coming-out of a butterfly from a cocoon, the plummeting of a waterfall when the snow begins to melt. The last two analogies underline Heidegger's example of a threshold occasion: a moment of ecstasis when something moves away from its standing as one thing to become another.*

This is the same idea as Michelangelo believing that he was not the creator of his sculptures, rather that he chiseled until he 'brought forth,' 'brought out' that which lived in the stone; helped to emerge the true nature of what lied within. He created the space, the conditions, in which to allow these entities to come to life; come into their own being.

I first came across this word entirely accidentally. In a really... well, a banal, Tuesday-night kind of way. It's one of those 'bread crumbs' stories --- where you are nudged and inspired and encouraged down an altogether new path, which ends up meaning EVERYTHING, by the most seemingly-random, normal, and 'uninteresting' clues...

I was actually looking for a certain movie on my Roku. And it wasn't available. But a whole host of movie titles (and their thumbnails) came up from the search. And I decided to just poke through them to see what else was worth watching.

Well, if you know me at all, you know I'm a bit of a hippie; a believer in energy and cosmic awesomeness and our connection to everything in the Universe. So how could I not click on that title? Just to see what it was?

This was the summary:"BEING IN THE WORLD takes us on a journey around the world to meet philosophers influenced by the thought of Martin Heidegger, as well as experts in the fields of sports, music, craft, and cooking, in a celebration of human beings, and our ability to find meaning in life through the mastery of physical, intellectual, and creative skills."Sign me UP.

So I watched the trailer. I was intrigued, but I wasn't ready to spend money to rent the film yet. Apparently I wanted more convincing -- so I cued up more trailers on Youtube. I watched another snippet from the film, and it was fascinating --- and I did end up watching the entire film; it's fabulous --- but what caught my eye then, what lead me down this interesting and gorgeous rabbit hole like some spiritual Alice, was the tiny little thumbnail of another video, for the same film, in the bottom right of the Youtube page.

It was the image of a Greek vase which I --- for an assignment in one of my first-ever Art History classes in college --- painstakingly, and as accurately as possible (okay, at least fairly closely), had painted as a replica. At least an homage. I had worked in one of those paint-your-own-ceramics places that year, and my "Greek vase redux" was one of my proudest achievements. It was legit. So seeing this piece --- which I probably haven't seen since my early college days (aside from on the bookshelf at my parents' home) --- made me do a double-take, and I clicked immediately.

The part of this film in which that Greek vase is featured is the EXACT MOMENT that features the discussion of the idea of POIESIS.

*The real one.

*The real version.

*My version.

And this concept, explained by the fantastically impish and still-scientifically-giddy Hubert Dreyfus, was like an arrow to my heart. It gave me chills.

THIS --- POIESIS --- is, as I have been slowly realizing, what I have been wanting to do, what I've been drawn to do, called to do, for women.And -- who am I kidding -- for myself. To bring out our best selves, our most powerful selves, our most beautiful selves, our most feminine-badass selves --- through Love; through exploration, support, and discovery; through conversation and photography.

I knew this would be a part of my creative adventure --- I just didn't know how, exactly.

Until my friend, Sydney --- one of the most uniquely and deliciously 'here' people I know, a healer and a fellow explorer --- said to me one night, "Hey --- I have an idea, and I want to see if you want to work together..."